Helios riding his golden chariotAfter Zeus defeated his father Cronos with help from the other olympians. He decided to reward them by dividing up the worlds lands equally among them. Helios however being the nosey all seeing god that he is was not there for the “cutting of the cake” so to speak. Helios was too busy riding his golden chariot across the map spying on men and gods that he forgot about it; and other gods of Olympus, eager to get a larger share of the pie conveniently forget to remind Zeus that Helios was not present. After the draw Helios returned and realized what had happened he demaded Zeus start over so that he could have his share. Clearly Zeus was now in a pickle; with so many egos to consider he couldn’t start over and still manage to please everyone. So Zeus contemplated for a moment and quickly found a solution. Zeus then told Helios that any new lands that rise from the sea shall belong to him. If that was not enough Zeus sweetened the pot a little more by making a large island rise from the Aegean as he spoke. Helios was more than pleased; he began to shower his island with extra sunlight each day and the island flourished more than any other.
Rendering of proposed design of new colossus
Rhode was a Sea Nymph and daughter of Poseidon. She was a protector of the island and eventually married Helios; making The island of the Sun the center of the godess’ cult. The couple had 7 sons known collectively as the Heliadae and 1 daughter Electryone. The Heliadae all became Astronomers and rulers of Rhodes. The 3 largest cities in Rhodes are named after the Sun god’s 3 grandsons: Lindus, Camidus, and Layyssus.
The Island of The Sun
Around 280 bc a giant Bronze colossus was built on the island of Rhodes in honor of the Titan-God Helios to celebrate a victory Rhodes had over Cyprus. The colossus was built by Chares of Lindos and stood over 100 feet tall making the statue the tallest building of the ancient world. Unfortunately this ancient wonder of the world was ruined in an earthquake in 226bc; and was never reconstructed out of fear of angering the gods. Although in 2015 new plans have made way for the possibility of constructing a new colossus of Rhodes which would include a museum, culture center, and powered by nothing other than solar energy (one selling point that I’m sure HELIOS himself would insist on !)
2017 Odyssey 